A “PRICELESS“ edition of Shakespeare’s works stolen 10 years ago has been recovered after a North East man took the book into a US library, police said.

The first folio edition, printed in 1623, was among a number of books and manuscripts taken from the Durham University Library in December 1998.

It is believed the Shakespeare book alone would have a market value of at least £15m.

Durham Police said a 51-year-old man, claiming to be an international businessman who had acquired the volume in Cuba, showed it to staff at a respected Washington DC library and asked them to verify it was genuine.

He agreed to leave it with librarians, whose research revealed it to have been stolen.

The man was arrested on Thursday at an address in Wigeon Close, Washington, Sunderland, after the British Embassy in the US alerted Durham Police to the find two weeks ago.